Commercially available spirit duplicating machines of the type which utilize address cards for imprinting addresses on mailpieces such as envelopes or postcards, generally utilize reusable address cards which have the mirror image of the mailing address imprinted on the card with a fluid soluble dye. The apparatus generally includes conventional means for feeding a mailpiece through a fluid dispensing station, where a fluid which is capable of at least partially dissolving the dye is applied to the appropriate surface of the mailpiece by means of a fluid applicator, then feeding the address card into overlying engagement with the wetted mailpiece surface such that the address imprintation on the card is disposed in intimate engagement with a wetted portion of the mailpiece's surface, then feeding the engaged mailpiece and card through a printing station where the mailpiece and address card are sufficiently forcefully pressed together to imprint the address on the mailpiece, and then feeding the mailpiece and card to a separating station where they are separated from each other.
Such spirit duplicating machines generally utilize highly volatile, relatively costly, fluids, such as alcohol, for partially dissolving the dye on the address cards. Accordingly, the fluid applicator must be generously and continuously wetted in the course of operation of the machine to offset losses due to vaporization from the applicator and from wetted mailpiece surfaces. To avoid unnecessary and costly losses of fluid, and accompanying fire and health hazards, due to spillage and vaporization, the fluid dispenser and associated fluid supply apparatus are sealed from the atmosphere to the extent it is possible to do so consistent with meeting operational requirements. Since it is an operational requirement to dispense copious amounts of fluid from the fluid dispenser, the working level of fluid in the dispenser is as a practical matter normally maintained at a working level such that the fluid is easily spillable from the dispenser if the machine is tipped. Spillages from dispensers of portable machines are therefore particularly difficult to avoid due to their inevitably being tipped to at least some extent in the course of being moved from one location to another. For such machines there has been a long felt need for a simple, cost effective solution to the spillage problem. Accordingly:
An object of the invention is to provide an improved fluid supply and dispensing system;
Another object is to provide a fluid supply and dispensing system constructed and arranged for reducing the likelihood of fluid spillages therefrom, and in particular from the system's fluid dispenser; and
A further object is to provide an improved fluid supply reservoir, including fluid displacement means for reducing the level of fluid in the reservoir and communicating fluid dispenser.